This Place Is Hell Itself (3)
“As expected, you were right, Seo Eun-hyun.”
I accepted the exhausted soldiers from the military commander, Hyun-woon, and looked at the survivors coming our way while talking with Oh Hyun-seok.
Right now, Oh Hyun-seok was looking quite haggard.
“I tried… I really did try to stop this unreasonable slaughter of the demons… But after hearing that it might bring harm to the Changcheon Gaebyeokmun, I couldn’t move properly. But… as expected, you’re different. You chose the right path and stuck to it until the end.”
“It was just a stubborn refusal to give up on what you believed.”
“That stubbornness has returned to us as hope now. Thank you for holding on.”
I let out a bitter smile.
“It was just… what was natural.”
“In the modern world, all those good things and peace and common sense that people thought were natural here… were considered utterly trivial. That ‘naturalness’ is never truly natural.”
“Is that so…?”
At that moment, Oh Hyun-seok suddenly trembled.
“Wait a second. You said you didn’t remember, didn’t you?”
“Ah, about the memories…”
I smiled gently and said,
“I finally found everything.”
“Heh heh…”
He smiled.
“Hoo ha ha ha ha! Yeah, that’s right.”
Thud! Kwaaang!
He slapped my shoulder boisterously, just like Changhoza, and said,
“You finally… came back, Seo Eun-hyun!”
I looked at him and smiled.
“Yes, brother.”
“Good. That’s great. This is really touching.”
He lifted the corner of his mouth and laughed heartily.
And a while later.
The smile gradually disappeared from his face.
“…Yeah, it’s a relief that you recovered your memories too.”
“…Yes.”
“Even Kim Yeon is in a state like this, but if you recovered your memories as well… it’s really a relief.”
We looked at Kim Yeon sitting in the back with bitter expressions.
“E, ehehehehe…”
She had been in the middle of blocking Hyeol-eum’s attack.
She said she had suffered an enormous amount of prohibition in her consciousness.
Thanks to that, her state remained at a childlike level until the prohibition was lifted.
‘That massive consciousness… is being forcibly suppressed and sealed away.’
It was similar to the effect of the Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon, but far more powerful and intricate.
I tried challenging it to remove the prohibition, but the prohibition was on a level that would swallow my mind.
‘To remove that prohibition alone, Goe-gun would probably have to come himself.’
If he brought the Wondrous Castle directly and gave it a shock without the castle’s madness destroying the prohibition, she wouldn’t be able to recover her consciousness.
‘It’s definitely related to the Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon system…’
The core of the prohibition itself was embedded deep in her consciousness, weakening and shrinking it before sealing.
But if she could overcome the prohibition on her own, she might be able to refine it and turn it into something she could use.
And I suspected that its power would be even stronger than my Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon.
‘Of course, that’s only if she escapes that prohibition.’
In her current situation, expecting her to escape the prohibition on her own was unrealistic.
It would be more realistic to knock down the clone of the Star Shattering Venerable who placed that prohibition on her and learn the dissolution method.
The prohibition placed on her was far beyond imagination.
I stepped closer to Kim Yeon and observed the prohibition once more.
‘It incorporates the Eight Trigrams of the Five Elements and the principles of the Taiji. Mixed in are the strange and eerie demonic properties unique to the Hyeol-eum realm.’
If I fully mobilized the Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon, the Eumhon Gwijumun, the Gimyoseongsimjeon, and the Daecheon’s mind teachings, I could interfere.
But to break this prohibition through interference would take about a hundred years.
‘No, actually, this prohibition isn’t just a prohibition—it’s closer to an offensive spiritual technique.’
From my perspective, even a Four Pillars-level spiritual technique would cause her consciousness to scatter and receive a fatal blow to her soul.
But because Kim Yeon possessed a consciousness several levels larger than her peers, the attack only resulted in the consciousness being sealed.
Her abilities were simply too monstrously large for her to be affected only at the prohibition level by an attack meant for her.
‘Soon, I’ll have to face the Star Shattering Venerable who shot such a powerful attack at Kim Yeon.’
Venerable.
That name was not to be taken lightly—not just in the Gwanghan Realm, but in the Demon Realm, the Hyeol-eum Realm, and countless other middle realms.
Except for the Fissure Opening stage sages who were like mythical beings, the ultimate peaks of all middle realms were eventually Star Plate stage sages, and Star Shattering stage cultivators were those just below them.
From the Star Shattering realm onward, they were essentially gods.
Just remembering the strike of the Star Shattering stage Venerable, the Heaven-Sinking Venerable Jang Ik, would still send chills down my spine every time.
‘Even the mad Goe-gun lost to a Star Shattering Venerable.’
He was defeated not by the real body, but by a clone sent from a distant dimensional realm.
‘Will I be able to win…?’
I clenched my teeth.
It was still too lacking.
However, Oh Hyun-seok approached me, his expression even more gloomy.
“By the way, Seo Eun-hyun.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“After seeing the third color last time, I’ve come to see countless more colors. The more I focus on them, the more colors I can see.”
He continued explaining.
“And at some point, I suddenly thought I might be able to ‘merge’ these colors. If I merge them… I feel like I’ll be able to fight in even newer realms.”
“…”
“It seems you know about that realm, but could you tell me if the direction I’m heading is correct?”
“…Heh heh…”
I let out a low sigh while looking at Oh Hyun-seok.
It was enormous.
Could it really be that he was trying to step into the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm so soon?
‘It wasn’t specialized in martial arts itself… but he wasn’t lacking in talent for martial arts.’
He wasn’t the absurd talent of Kim Young-hoon, but he seemed pure genius in martial arts itself.
‘I wonder how far Oh Hyun-seok’s martial arts talent truly goes.’
He could never reach Kim Young-hoon’s level.
But, if he trained hard enough, could he reach the Deungbongjogeuk realm?
Kureung, kuurung…
I looked far away at the sky of the Demon Realm beyond the barrier.
For the past few days, the red light in the sky had gradually grown deeper.
Hyun-woon said it was a heavenly phenomenon caused by the left hand of the Hyeol-eum Realm’s Star Shattering Venerable approaching this direction.
Probably, the Hyeol-eum Realm’s Venerable would arrive here within three days.
Then…
‘It wouldn’t be bad to reinforce our power as much as possible within that.’
I decided to help Oh Hyun-seok reach the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm completely.
* * *
Helping him establish the enlightenment of the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin wasn’t particularly difficult.
He had already realized that all concepts were empty and that there were no boundaries to any concepts, reaching the peak of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.
‘All that remains is to unify the concepts, evolve the consciousness into one, and reach the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin…’
Honestly, I wasn’t worried.
He had already acquired the enlightenment in its entirety.
‘The only slight concern was his Spiritual Root, but that was no big issue either.’
Based on my research so far.
Even among mortals, there had been studies on human body reconstruction and the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.
Since martial arts themselves had no room for evolution in this world, many similar methods had been developed that produced results close to martial arts through continuous training, human body reconstruction, and convergence evolution.
The Gimyoseongsimjeon was originally of that type.
And the human body reconstruction and Five Qi Consorting with the Origin were results of the human race researching the You Xiu Gongfa.
The You Xiu Gongfa was a technique that continuously required the master’s human body reconstruction, and during that process, many You Xiu Gongfa incorporated Five Elements spiritual energy to forcibly generate Five Elements Spiritual Roots, similar to the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.
And such You Xiu Gongfa that generated Spiritual Roots were rarely taught on the Heavenly race side.
Because in the end, obtaining a Five Elements Spiritual Root after reaching the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin would turn a cultivator with a Heavenly Spiritual Root into a Mortal Spiritual Root.
It was a terrible thing that would degrade the cultivation aptitude.
To prevent such horrific acts, the process of obtaining Five Elements Spiritual Roots from general You Xiu Gongfa was removed, becoming the origin of the ordinary training methods learned by the human race.
‘But Oh Hyun-seok is a One-Line Perfect Body. He can learn all methods of all attributes. In short, there is no issue at all with obtaining additional Five Elements Spiritual Roots through Five Elements spiritual energy.’
Therefore, if I guided him to reach the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm, it would actually increase his power slightly.
Uddok, uddeuddeuk!
I stood guard beside Oh Hyun-seok as he completed his human body reconstruction.
He was slowly guiding the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy according to the enlightenment of the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin and completing the human body reconstruction.
‘…Wait.’
While observing Oh Hyun-seok’s human body reconstruction, one thought struck me.
‘Ordinary training methods are remodelled for mortals by including the process of obtaining Five Elements spiritual energy from You Xiu Gongfa and several other processes. The Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop’s Five Elements Pillar Core is also generally not fully learned by learning one attribute and moving to the next stage. My master also learned the Seonggwang Ho Che Gong based on the Mugo Pillar Core and the Changryeong Geok Won Gyeol. And later, in the Yuan Ying late stage, he subtly drew out the power of the Five Elements Pillar Core through the law treasure of the Five Elements attribute.’
Those who reached the Yuan Ying late stage mostly possessed law treasures of the Five Elements attribute because of the peculiarities of their realm.
But not only Oh Hyun-seok, but I too had fully learned the Five Elements Gongfa of the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop.
Then…
‘The Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop that I and brother Hyun-seok have learned… is it not infinitely close to the original You Xiu Gongfa?’
And I could even generate the Yin Domain…
‘Hmm…’
Since reaching the Daecheon realm, I had never generated the Yin Domain.
The Yin Domain was already dissolved into the Muhyeong and flowing inside my body—why would I make another inner pill?
But thinking about it now, I also felt the idea of forming an inner pill while cultivating the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop.
‘The Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop is a technique that can be properly cultivated from the Yuan Ying stage. My master said it was only a taste so far. Then… I’ll have to do it properly after some time.’
I organized my thoughts and stood guard beside Oh Hyun-seok.
The sky gradually reddened.
It was probably evidence that the Star Shattering Venerable had come quite close.
And finally, a few days later.
Under my guard, Oh Hyun-seok slowly completed his human body reconstruction.
He was not a martial arts genius like Kim Young-hoon, nor did he have medical knowledge of the human body like me, so his human body reconstruction was naturally slow.
“Huuu…”
Kugugugugu!
And after completing the human body reconstruction, Oh Hyun-seok looked… far more than before.
‘He gives off a demonic aura.’
I looked at Oh Hyun-seok, who was emitting the unique aura of the Youzu, and smiled bitterly.
When he reached the Deungbongjogeuk realm later, I wondered if the Changryeong Seonggwang Ochae Daebop would truly evolve into a You Xiu Gongfa.
“Amazing, Eun-hyun. By the way…”
His gaze turned to the blood-red sky.
Not only that, but a significant number of the exhausted mortal soldiers had come out to this area and were focusing on the aura of something approaching beyond the distant mountains.
Hyun-woon had also arrived here and was guarding toward the existence beyond.
“It’s coming…”
Hyun-woon swallowed.
Oh Hyun-seok clenched his fist.
I focused my consciousness and watched the existence coming from beyond.
Boom, boom, boom…
The enormous mountain range.
Vibrations resounding from beyond the mountain range.
It was huge.
It wasn’t that the existence coming from beyond was large, but the very existence of that being was so immense that it seemed it would crush everything.
“That is…”
Boom, boom!
The Heavenly Demon of the Hyeol-eum Realm’s Star Shattering stage.
The left hand of the Venerable.
Kung!
The clone of the being that had escaped the mortal’s fate.
“Venerable…”
A part of one becoming a god.
Kugugugugu!
The sky turned blood-red.
Clearly, the demonic energy began to flow throughout the occupied territory where I had previously drenched it with the Gwanghan Realm.
That existence revealed itself.
Just by appearing, the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy was being eroded.
Kung!
Beyond the mountain range, its true body revealed itself.
Sung!
The red coral was writhing and swaying as if alive.
A swarm of such coral covered the surface, and dozens of enormous ‘eyes’ were attached to various places on that surface.
And those red coral surfaces and eyes were arranged to form one ‘left hand’ shape.
The red hand approached over the mountain range toward here.
Thus began the battle between the left hand of the Hyeol-eum Realm’s Venerable and me.